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Jamaica Estates, Queens

Jamaica Estates, Queens

Jamaica Estates is an upper middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. Within Queens Community District 8, Jamaica Estates is served by Queens Community Board 8[1] and located in the northern portion of Jamaica. It is bounded by Union Turnpike to the north, Hillside Avenue to the south, Utopia Parkway and Homelawn Street to the west, and 188th Street to the east. The main road through the neighborhood is Midland Parkway.

The surrounding neighborhoods are Jamaica Hills to the west; Jamaica to the southwest; Hollis to the southeast; Holliswood and Queens Village to the east; and Fresh Meadows and Hillcrest to the north.

Character

The area is characterized by million-dollar homes and a multitude of trees. Midland Parkway, a four-lane boulevard with a wide, landscaped median strip whose renovation was completed in 2007, is the area's main artery. The neighborhood consists of mostly upper-middle-class residents. Most houses are single-family detached homes in the Tudor, Craftsman, Cape Cod, or Mediterranean styles.[2]

Out of 14,000 residents, 45% are foreign-born. In the 2000 United States Census, 43% of residents were white, Bangladeshis comprise 11% of residents, while Filipinos make up 10%, Haitians 7%, Guyanese 5%, and Russians 4%. A population of over 1,000 Bukharan Jews live in the area.[2]

Jamaica Estates has significant Modern Orthodox Jewish American[3] and South Asian American populations.[4] The only apartments and multi-family housing lie near the southern border within a few blocks from and along Hillside Avenue. The shopping corridors are along Hillside Avenue and Union Turnpike.

History

Jamaica Estates was created in 1907 by the Jamaica Estates Corporation, which developed the hilly terminal moraine's 503 acres (2.04 km2), while preserving many of the trees that had occupied the site.[5] The company was founded by Ernestus Gulick and Felix Isman, both of Philadelphia.[6]

In 2007, following the damage of the roof of the Historic Gatehouse in Hurricane Isabel, the restoration and beautification of the Gatehouse and Malls was completed.[7]

The Jamaica Estates Association, founded in 1929, continues as an active, vital civic organization representing the community. An Historical Plaque was unveiled April 23, 2010, on the Midland Mall by The Aquinas Honor Society of the Immaculate Conception School (now the Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy) and by the sponsor of the plaque, Senator Frank Padavan.[8]

Education

The New York City Department of Education operates public schools:

  • Holliswood School (PS 178) [30] in School District 26, at 189th Street

  • Abigail Adams School (PS 131) [31] in School District 29 in Jamaica Hills

Private schools include:

  • The Mary Louis Academy [32] , an all-girls Catholic college-prep school, is located on the corner of Edgerton Boulevard and Wexford Terrace.

  • Immaculate Conception School [33] is on the corner of Midland Parkway and Dalny Road.(Immaculate conception School is now named Immaculate Conception Catholic Academy.)

  • The Summit School has their high school campus on 188th Street and Grand Central Parkeay.

  • Yeshiva University High School for Girls is just east of the Estates in Holliswood

  • United Nations International School Queens Campus, for students in grades K-8, is located on Croydon Road; intended for the children of UN diplomats and employees, enrollment is now open to everyone.[9] The school first opened in Lake Success, but relocated in 1950 to Parkway Village.[10]

  • From its 1975 founding to around 1980, The Japanese School of New York was located in Jamaica Estates, at 187-30 Grand Central Parkway.[11][12]

Transportation

The New York City Subway's IND Queens Boulevard Line serves the station at the line's Jamaica–179th Street terminal station (E, ​F, and trains), as well as the penultimate 169th Street local station (F and ​ trains).[13] The neighborhood is also served by the Q1, Q2, Q3, Q36, Q46 local bus lines on Hillside Avenue; the Q30 and Q31 buses on Utopia Parkway; and the Q17 bus on 188th Street. Numerous express buses (QM1, QM5, QM6, QM7, QM8, QM31, QM35, QM36, X68) to Manhattan also stop on Union Turnpike and Hillside Avenue.[14]

In contrast to much of Queens, most streets in Jamaica Estates do not conform to the rectangular street grid and follow topographic lines, the most notable example being Midland Parkway. Many of the named streets have etymologies originating from Languages of the United Kingdom, such as Aberdeen, Avon, Hovenden, Barrington, Chelsea, and Chevy Chase Street. However, unlike Forest Hills Gardens, which is a similarly wealthy Queens neighborhood with an atypical Queens street layout, the street numbering system does conform to the rest of Queens, employing the "dash" found in the Philadelphia grid street numbering system familiar throughout all other parts of the borough.

Notable residents

  • Margaret Bergmann Lambert (1914-2017), German high jump champion of the 1930s (as Gretel Bergmann), later United States champion in high jump (1937 and 1938) and shot put (1938).[15]

  • Frank D. O'Connor (1909-1992), attorney and judge.[16]

  • Joseph "Run" Simmons (born 1964), the "Run" of Run-D.M.C..[17]

  • Bob Saffer, songwriter who wrote the campaign songs for presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and composed songs sung by Nat King Cole, Gene Autry, Frankie Lymon, and other artists.[18]

  • Lennie Tristano (1919-1978), blind bebop pianist and teacher, who has been credited as the first to record "free jazz."[19]

  • Donald Trump (born 1946), businessman and 45th President of the United States, was born while the family lived at 85-15 Wareham Place, later moving to Midland Parkway.[20][21][22]

In the film Coming to America, Cleo McDowell (John Amos) lived in Queens at 24-32 Derby Avenue, a fictitious address. Also was featured in the movie Belly, it was the neighborhood DMX lived in with his girlfriend Keisha.

References

[1]
Citation Linkwww.nyc.govQueens Community Boards, New York City. Accessed September 3, 2007.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[2]
Citation Linkwww.nytimes.comHughes, C. J. (June 10, 2007). "Tudor Charm Loses Ground to McMansion Space". The New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[3]
Citation Linkwww.nytimes.comBerger, Joseph (September 27, 2002). "Judaism Takes Different Turns; In Places, Blocks of Orthodoxy". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[4]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comClaudia Gryvatz Copquin. Jamaica. The Neighborhood of Queens. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[5]
Citation Linkquery.nytimes.comShaman, Diana (September 21, 1997). "If You're Thinking of Living In/Jamaica Estates, Queens; An Enclave That Treasures Its Trees". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[6]
Citation Linkwww.nytimes.com"TO DEVELOP 8,000 LOTS.; Plans of Messrs. Gulick and Isman Involving Large ract at Jamaica". The New York Times. August 11, 1907. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[7]
Citation Linkwww.jamaicaestatesassociation.com"JEA Newsletter Volume 72 No. 5". Jamaica Estates Association. August 2007. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[8]
Citation Linkwww.jamaicaestatesassociation.com"Jamaica Estates Historical Plaque Dedication" (PDF). June 12, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[9]
Citation Linkweb.archive.orgWelcome to UNIS Queens Archived December 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, United Nations International School. Accessed December 4, 2007.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[10]
Citation Linkfindarticles.comElsa B. Endrst (December 1991). "The United Nations International School: a model of diversity". UN Chronicle. Retrieved August 17, 2009.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[11]
Citation Linkpqasb.pqarchiver.comKulers, Brian G. "QUEENS NEIGHBORHOODS QUEENS CLOSEUP East Meets West in School For Japanese in America." Newsday. November 12, 1986. News, Start Page 31. Retrieved on January 9, 2012.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[12]
Citation Linkwww.nytimes.comBuckley, Tom. "Pride and Pleasure Evident Beneath Usual Restraint; Japanese Here Prepare for Imperial Visit." The New York Times. September 23, 1975. Page 39. Retrieved on January 9, 2012. "Students from the Japanese School of New York in Jamaica Estates[...]"
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[13]
Citation Linkweb.mta.info"Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. May 1, 2019. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[14]
Citation Linkweb.mta.info"Queens Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. December 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[15]
Citation Linkwww.nytimes.comBerkow, Ira. "Margaret Bergmann Lambert, Jewish Athlete Excluded From Berlin Olympics, Dies at 103", The New York Times, July 25, 2017. Accessed August 28, 2017. "She never forgot what might have been. In 1996, she spoke of watching an important pre-Olympics meet on television at her home in Jamaica Estates, Queens."
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[16]
Citation Linkwww.nytimes.comHevesi, Dennis. "Frank D. O'Connor, 82, Is Dead; Retired New York Appellate Judge", The New York Times, December 3, 1992. Accessed July 20, 2016. "Judge O'Connor died from head injuries he suffered 13 days ago when he fell down a flight of stairs at his home in Jamaica Estates."
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[17]
Citation Linkwww.nytimes.comLee, Felicia R. "COPING; Rapper Is Reborn to Sounds of the Spirit", The New York Times, November 12, 2000. Accessed August 28, 2017. "The Reverend Run and his family moved into the house in Jamaica Estates a few months ago."
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[18]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgCarl Ballenas, Aquinas Honor Society of the Immaculate Conception School (2010). Jamaica Estates. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-7255-0. |page = 118
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[19]
Citation Linkwww.allmusic.comLennie Tristano at AllMusic. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM
[20]
Citation Linkwww.newsday.comKellog, Valerie (July 1, 2016). "Donald Trump's boyhood home selling for $1.65M in Queens". Newsday. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
Sep 29, 2019, 8:27 AM